Was informed that Runway 4L was closed yesterday afternoon for a short period, due to a nose gear collapse on N72HB, a Piper PA-23-250 (msn 27-7754149), owned by Washin Air. Thankfully, it did not appear anyone was injured. There was damage seen to the propellers. An extra large tow truck was brought in to clear N72HB from Rwy 4L, and towed back to the Washin Air hangar. Not sure whether the accident happened on take-off or landing.

Normally, the Air Canada flights AC33 and AC34 depart around midnight. This morning, AC33 was delayed for over 7 hours. What a surprise to find an Air Canada A340 (C-GDVW) parked at Gate 25 at 6:00am. Air Canada only uses the A340 for their YVR-HNL-SYD flight seasonally. This flight finally departed at 7:10am. It was a little too dark, but here's a shot of C-GDVW at Gate 25 this morning:

28 December 2006

For the majority of Wednesday afternoon, HNL's traffic pattern reversed as the winds blew from the southwest. In-bound flights made their approach abeam Waikiki Beach on their way to Runway 26L (or 26R), and departed toward Ewa, or toward the ocean on Runway22L.

In the top photo, a United Airlines 777-222, N214UA (c/n 30220), is on its take-off roll down Rwy 22L. In the photo above, a Hawaiian Air 717-22A, N487HA " ‘Io" (c/n 55132), is a few seconds (and few feet) from touching down on Rwy 26R.

Managed to sneak a few minutes of spotting time in during a break on a media assignment, and the only RareBird was an Embraer EMB-135BJ "Legacy", N702DR (msn14500925), which was previously registered as N702CM. It's registered to Diamond Resort International.

27 December 2006

Jetstar's first HNL flight from SYD arrived today as JQ3/QF385 a little more than 30 minutes late at 7:20am. Here is VH-EBD parked at gate 34, loading up for the return to SYD as JQ4/QF386. The late arrival plus the added ground handling training for Swissport meant that the flight left 45 minutes late at 9:01. Coming up on Dec. 29 is the first Jetstar flight from MEL. The A330-200s are only a stop-gap aircraft since QF has the 787 on order with first deliveries in late 2008.

24 December 2006

Updating the Northwest's N237NW post, the University of Hawai‘i Warriors defeated the Arizona State University Sun Devils in the Sheraton Hawai‘i Bowl, 41 -24! Hawai‘i Quarterback Colt Brennan now holds the single-season touchodwn record with 58!

Another Northwest DC-10-30 was waiting on the north ramp yesterday morning waiting to take the Sun Devils back to PHX, as NWA9981.

21 December 2006

Last month we posted that AQ has a University of Hawaii athletics logo decal next the the front door of N740AL, a 737-700. Now, AQ has a 'Go Hawai'i Warriors' decal on the rear of a 737-200, N835AL. Here it is parked in AQ's hangar

With the merger of HP and US, the special livery HP 757's are slowly being repainted into the new US livery. HNL has seen almost all of the special liveries pass through here. The Arizona Cardinals livery 757, N908AW, seen below, is no more.

N908AW was parked on the north ramp on Dec. 20, now wears the new US livery.

19 December 2006

Leading off today's HNL RareBirds Grand Slam: China Southern Airlines (CZ) has taken delivery of another 737-71B, B-5237 (c/n 29372). It arrived from BFI as CSN523, and remained @ HNL today. It's seen here on the Air Service Hawaii ramp.

Arizona State University has chartered this old colors Northwest Airlines DC-10-30, N237NW (c/n 47844), to bring their Sun Devils football team to challenge the University of Hawai‘i Warriors in the Sheraton Hawai‘i Bowl to be played on the December 24th at Aloha Stadium. The flight, NWA9980, originated in PHX (Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport,AZ), and arrived on yesterday. It's seen here taking a break on Hardstand 5.

Completing today's HNL RareBird Grand Slam is a Gulfstream III, N163PA (msn 249) operated by the Phoenix Air Group. The rarity of this bird is the starboard side cargo door. This G-III previously served with the Royal Danish Air Force. This flight arrived from ONT (Ontario, CA), re-fueled, and returned to ONT.

Gulfstream G-IVs (C-20G) in service with the US Navy and US Marine Corps have the same cargo door, including the ones based here in Hawai‘i.

17 December 2006

The HNL RareBirds Blog will be undergoing some renovations over the next few weeks. As the blogspot.com changes, so will our blog. One of the first changes we have added is the "Label" feature. It is on the bottom of most of the posts, and has been designated by airline (for now). A aircraft type Label is under consideration as well. When you click on it, it will display all of the airlines' posts on this blog. A change in the layout is also being considered at this time. Please bear with us as we move through the changes.

16 December 2006

At Honolulu's old John Rodgers Airport on Lagoon Drive, residents line up to tour a Qantas jetliner after the Boeing 707 set a new record on its inaugural flight to Honolulu on June 30, 1959. The flight, which opened commercial jet travel to Hawaii, triggered an explosion in tourism, which remains the islands' No. 1 industry. Photo credit HA State Archives

VH-XBA, the 707-138B in the Qantas 1959 colors departed HNL this morning for NAN (Nadi, Fiji). "XBA" is seen here departing Runway 8R. Got there just as it was about to taxi into position, great timing.

Watching the those four JT3D powerplants spool up, and belch out that black smoke was quite a nostalgic sight! Too bad it didn't depart from Runway 8L (or 8, as it was pre-8R), that would have truly been an HNL RareBirds Blast From The Past!

13 December 2006

Here's Qantas' first jet aircraft, a 707. It arrived in HNL on Tuesday, Dec 12 at 1405. This aircraft is currently parked on the North Ramp with a lot of company. Behind VH-XBA in the picture is a NW 757-300. On the other side (behind me) was a NW 747-400, APA 727-200F, AA 757-200 with winglets, and a DL 767-400. According to the website about this QF 707, it is scheduled to depart HNL at 0800 on Dec. 14. Hopefully I will be able to get out there again tomorrow to get more pictures.

06 December 2006

The Grumman Albatross, N121FB, owned by Billabong (a surfwear company), is back @ HNL. The seaplane had been using HNL as a base for its promotional flights and surf flights. With the winter high surf due for O‘ahu's North Shore, we could see this RareBird circling above North Shore surf spots.

The photo above was taken back in February when N121FB arrived from the mainland the month before.

02 December 2006

Air China has a second "Fuwa Beijing 2008" logojet, B-5178 (c/n 32682). This 737-86N has the same "Five Friendlies" decals as B-5176 (see the 08 & 09 Nov 06 entries) on both sides. B-5178 arrived from BFI on Friday, midday as CCA058.

26 November 2006

Aloha Airlines (AQ) has affixed a University of Hawai‘i Warriors logo on a 737-76N(W), N740AL "Kamohoali‘i" (c/n 28640) [top]. This is the same "H" logo as the ones that are on the nationally-ranked football team's helmet [above]. AQ is the official airline of the Warrior football team, and handled the road game charters this season. Go Warriors!

"Kamohoali‘i" is seen here arriving today, from OAK as AAH441 on Runway 26R. Also, the helmet of Warrior Defensive Lineman #99 Lawrence Wilson (Senior), rests on the FieldTurf® of Aloha Stadium, during pre-game warm-ups before their victory over the Purdue University Boilermakers (42 - 35).

On a personal note, I rode N740AL on a flight to SNA (AAH482) back in October 2004, and was the subject of a "Coach Flyer" column published in an issue of "Airways" magazine. I also was the field videographer for the Purdue - Hawai‘i game.

HP/US had N90AW, with the Arizona livery, parked at the hard stands on the North Ramp. I'm not sure if it had mechanical problems, but it went out for a flight and when it landed, headed straight back to the hard stands.

21 November 2006

Also seen in HNL today is a COMCO 757-22L, N610G (c/n 29304). This rarebird was parked at Gate 28.

According to their website, COMCO is "an aviation and engineering services company. Although we conduct a variety of aviation related business, COMCO specializes in providing engineering testing services in the areas of avionics, aircraft structure and airframe modifications, power-plant, aircraft systems integration, long-range communications, aircraft instrumentation, and other research and development programs specifically dealing with aircraft systems, maintainability, and habitability."

So, why it was parked at a gate rather than a hard stand? It's a mystery since this 757 is supposed to be a test bed. I'm not sure if they also do passenger charter work. I think it is currently parked on the South Ramp since I saw it crossing the airfield instead of heading towards to the end of the runway.

After spending 16 hours in Hawaii, Air Force One took off at 10:08 am taking the President back to Washington D.C. All the airspace over Hawaii was shut down for about an hour and all ground movements at HNL stopped for about 30 minutes. With not much to do, many people on the ramp (including me) were just sitting and waiting to watch Air Force One leave. Once it took off, everyone started getting back to work.

A real rarebird at HNL...Air Tahiti Nui flew in today from PPT with one of their A340-300s (F-OJGF). What a surprise to find a big blue bird sitting at Gate 25 when I stopped at the security checkpoint. Arrived from PPT a little before 12 noon with a scheduled departure of 2:00pm. This flight is most likely a charter since most of the people I saw at and around the gate was using the same shirt.

11 November 2006

On this Veterans' Day, the HNL RareBirds team salutes the men and women of the United States Armed Forces, both who are currently serving our country, and those who have previouly served. We also salute those allied forces who fought along our warriors. We thank you for serving our country, and putting your lives on the line to protect our land. A special salute goes to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our freedoms that only the US has.

The next time you see one of our warriors in uniform, tell them "thank you for serving our country."

Two Hawai‘i Air National Guard F-15As from the 199th FS in the photo above, perform an overhead break above Runway 26L.

09 November 2006

Can anyone help out on these two "incidents?" According to an airport employee, Aloha Airlines had a 737 with two smoking engines on the reef runway the other day, and it was closed down for two hours. This caused a bit of an inconvenience to the other operators who had to detour or alter taxi patterns.

Today, Thursday November 9, there was an Air Force (AFRC to be specific) C-5 Galaxy parked(?) about 100 yards Ewa of the turn on the taxiway at the end of Lagoon Drive. From about 4:30 to 6:30 pm, I watched as some neat flatbed lift-trucks unloaded about 6 to 8 large palleted loads, three truckloads full. Then, two tanker trucks labelled JP-8 (typical military jet fuel) either filled or off-loaded the big bird. Next, a crew bus from Hickam took 8 or 10 pax/crew back to the base. Never in my 26 years of hanging out there did I ever observe such an activity, especially in the middle of a taxiway! Neither did the FedEx guy that hung out with me for a while. Does anyone know what was going on? Was there an abort, then was the plane lightened so that it could make its way back to the Hickam tarmac? Was this some "special" procedure? I'd be really interested in finding out. Sorry, no pix, no camera and the sun was really backlighting the whole scene anyway.

The Five Friendlies appearing on Air China's B-5176 are depicted in different sporting activities on the left side of the aircraft. Due to the angle of the sun yesterday, I could not get a good shot to severe backlighting. The photo above, is from this morning as B-5176 is pushed back onto Taxiway C, as it prepares to depart for MAJ on the second leg of its delivery flight to BJS (Beijing, China).

08 November 2006

Leading off today's HNL RareBird Grand Slam (a 1st!), is Air China's second variation of its Beijing 2008 Olympic Games livery adorned upon B-5176 (c/n 34258), a 737-86N. It features the mascots (Fuwa) of the Summer Olympic Games being held in Beijing. Air China has been designated as the official airline of these games. B-5176 arrived at HNL today from BFI as CCA058. Air China has two 737-79L(W)s, B-5201 and B-5213, wear the first logojet design.

A Royal Brunei Airlines (BI/RBA) A340-212, V8-BKH, (msn 046) is also visiting HNL. This aircraft belongs to the Sultan of Brunei, and is his personal aircraft, complete with a VIP interior. This is about the third time this jet has been at HNL this year.

04 November 2006

Aloha Airlines (AQ) has received another of its "new" 737-236s. N836AL (c/n 23225), a.k.a "Kauikeaouli", is seen here on the Elliott Street ramp, and will soon be joining AQ's inter-island fleet. This aircraft previously wore the following registrations: N154FV, LV-ZTD, and G-BKYO.

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We cannot promise, nor guarantee, that we can get every rarebird that passes through HNL (or Hawai‘i), but we will do our best to document and/or photograph each one that we do catch; as well as provide the most up-to-date, accurate information, and history about that aircraft.

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